Guests could try Japanese and Taiwanese foods while watching performances from reFRESHcru , an MSU-affiliated hip-hop dance group, and various singing groups.
Traditional dishes such as Japanese savory pancakes, Taiwanese fried chicken, yakisoba, or fried noodles, and steamed sponge cake were served. Workers from Bubble Island, 515 E. Grand River Ave., also served bubble tea to the guests.
“The food was really good,” advertising senior Jerry Vedua said. “I liked the Taiwanese chicken and the potato salad the best.”
Vedua said it’s great that these two groups came together, because he learned a lot more about their respective cultures.
Throughout the event, there were three stations of games set up along the sides of the room in First Christian Church, 1001 Chester Rd., in Lansing.
Many guests played Taiwanese pinball, a simplified version of the popular game with wooden framing.
Hiroya Miyoshi, mechanical engineering sophomore and Japan Club president , also pulled volunteers from the audience and taught them games, including airplane throwing and ninja star throwing.
The event closed with a natto? eating contest. Natto? is a traditional Japanese food made from soybean, which often becomes known for its potent smell.
The winner received a gift card to No Thai!
“Natto ... has an acquired taste,” Miyoshi said. He added a Japanese spice to it to make the competition more difficult for participants.
Above all else, the event was meant to showcase Japanese and Taiwanese culture on campus.
“(Japan and Taiwan are) both island countries, and while they’re small they have so much to offer the world,” advertising senior and Japan Club Vice President Ryan Gaines said. “There are so many Japanese and Taiwanese students at MSU, so we want to show that they have a place here.”
Island Bazaar promotes diversity as well as Japanese and Taiwanese culture. Gaines said his guests included Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese and domestic students.
“We had such a huge turnout,” Gaines said, “(There were) so many new faces.”
Computer science sophomore Jie Wan became interested in Japanese culture after enrolling in classes for Kendo, a Japanese martial art that involves using swords.
He said he wanted to attend the event to learn more about the typical Japanese lifestyle and to taste some food he’d never tried.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Wan said. “It opened my eyes to this new culture.”
Editor's note: This article has been corrected to accurately reflect the countries referred to as island nations.
